America: A culture in decline
DMV3
I have spent the better part of the last few months reflecting on our country and why we’re on the decline as a nation. If you ask ten different people why you will get ten different answers, but the truth is we did it to ourselves. We focused too much on what was best for us as individuals instead of focusing on the greater good. This doesn’t just apply to our leaders, but to each individual of our community, myself included. We can easily point to others and notice their shortcomings, but taking a look at ourselves and making an accurate assessment is more difficult. Many like to blame the government, others like to blame the Top Five, while others blame Unity elections, and even more blame the AFA.
The fact of the matter is YOU and I are responsible for the sad state of affairs in our beloved eUS. Some of us were too focused on settling old scores, others have been focused on how best to promote themselves, while even more were too busy playing their own game, but in the end it has been our focus on our own interests that have lead our nation to the precipice. We have been so busy fighting each other that we didn’t realize that our nation was burning to the ground and our enemies had us surrounded. These issue must be addressed by each of us before we can begin rebuilding our community and our nation.
"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
In order to move forward we must first put an end to our selfish game. We need to focus first on rebuilding our community through reconciliation, we must make amends to those we might have wronged and forgive those who have done wrong to us. Once we have done that the solution to our current issues becomes easy to solve. The solutions can be broken down into three very distinct parts; Patriotism, Pride, and Purpose.
Before going forward with this article I would like to take the time to apologize to those I have either offended, hurt, or been rude to in anyway. There are two people in particular I would like to apologize to. Vanek26, I have been rather hard on you and quite rude over how you planned to handle the current war. My words were both mean spirited and totally out of line. I would like to offer you my most sincere apologies for the way I have treated you. The second person I would like to apologize to is Ajay Bruno despite the fact I know this will not win me any friends. Ajay on several occasions over the last few years playing this game I have pretended to be your friend to get information I used to further my own goals and this is something I regret. While I know you have done much that has caused the nation to dislike you I should not have been cruel to you in this way. You would have been better off had I left you alone instead of pretending to be your friend.
While I can not take back what I have said and done I can try not to repeat these mistakes again. I will make an effort to remember that my words and actions affect others and to also remember that the people I interact with are indeed people and not just pixels on a computer screen.
”The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
What exactly does it mean to be a patriot?
Patriotism is a love for your country that transcends pride or nationalism and becomes a part of the individual. It is does not mean agreeing with your government or even supporting everything it does, but it impacts how you see the world and how you see your fellow countrymen.
Patriots are not born, they are created through events that shape a country and an individual. The vast majority of the time people only show their love for their country in times of national disaster, war, or in times of national mourning. In order for the eUS to grow we must shape and grow our patriotic fervor in all that we do and all that we strive to do as a nation.
We are now at a point where the only thing that can save and motivate our nation is patriotism. Not the superficial kind where everyone talks about their love for our country, but the very real kind where people actually walk the walk. All loyal Americans must strive to do what is best for our community and country. This means we must do all we can to fight our enemies both here and on the battlefield. We will need every available voter, soldiers, and patriot to turn the tide in our upcoming battles against our enemies.
”Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation - not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.”
Pride in all things
In order for our nation to fulfill its promise we must develop pride in ourselves. I’m talking about the pride that comes from accomplishment not the artificial pride that comes from making others a victim to our arrogance. Pride in accomplishment requires an individual, a group, or a nation to set goals that are ambitious but also obtainable through hard work and perseverance. This means avoiding lofty goals such as conquering the world or becoming President (only so many people can get elected to President of one country and this game is set up so no one nation can actually conquer the world), but instead set smaller goals that can be accomplished and then setting the bar higher as we accomplish our previous goals.
There are two things I have done in this game that give me real pride, the first is creating Praetorian Guards. I created Praetorian Guards with the goal of making soldiers accountable for where they hit and rewarding those who perform up to and beyond my expectations. I’m proud of my unit and I am proud to call the soldiers I fight beside my friends.
The second thing I am proud of is my small part in creating US-AIM. What makes US-AIM special and what makes me proud of being a member is its bottom up structure. People choose MUs for a variety of reasons but the one thing that is important to remember is that their membership is voluntary. No one is forced by mechanics to fight in any unit so if their MU does not reflect the experience they want they can choose another. The same holds true for US-AIM, the individual MUs decide their own level of participation. These are the kinds of groups we need more of in this country, groups that engage and represent their membership.
”He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
What’s your purpose?
We have a major void in the area of why we play this game. What is it that keeps us signing in and playing? Most people would answer that it is their friends and their community that keeps them playing. What we fail to address though is a greater purpose for our game together. Our purpose can be either simple or very complex, but it should involve making the game better for our friends and fellow countrymen.
While the issue of having a purpose can be solved alone, it is much more effective if we have a group and national purpose. Programs like Meals on Wheels, the National Mentorship Program, and party programs give players a purpose that helps build the community and also fulfills the other two above list goals. More programs like this need to be made available to our people to engage them in the greater group and give them the purpose they need to keep playing and interacting with the community.
Our culture, our community, and our nation are in jeopardy and if we do not make fundamental changes to the way we interact with each other as a nation we will not survive. We must put our community and nation above ourselves and work towards a common goal. Patriotism, pride and purpose are the keys to our future success as a nation but first we must let go of our differences and become one nation instead of many smaller communities.
Comments
Voted.
tl;dr version?
No, I don't believe in tl;dr. I try to take the time to read what people write and want others to do the same if I write something.
o7
A thought:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-country-coatrack-2218390/1/20
Patriotism isn't a bad thing, xenophobia on the other hand is awful. Patriotism could be considered pride in your team and love for your teammates.
Best to call it what it is .... a team, teamwork, team spirit, team pride, teamates, etc.... you start the new adventure with that clear...
as for team goals ... gotta say I loved the very simple and concrete one you came up with namely:
"making the game better for our friends and teamates" (sic)
A very strong departure.. congrats
I'm sorry, Dennis. Real life hit me too hard.
I miss you buddy. I hope everything is going well.
Ridiculously long, seriously!
BUT, you said something important!
Votado!
sorry for spam DMV
[Zeng4PotUS]Epic Cabinet and the Invasion
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2286390/1/20
Voted btw, nice article
o7
You have shown character.
We also need more responsibility among those who are supposed to serve the people!
All those that try to rule over us should not be given a chance!
half of your problems are that your leaders stabbed long term commited allies in the back for a gambit that failed hard (joining CoT) as evidence by the lack of US regions
That pales in comparison to our internal issues, but it did make the divide worse.
in the long term you get along better with your fellow countrymen when everything is going well, tensions rise when international issues force the country to react, if the US didnt handle its FA so poorly then its likely the affects of a TWO invasion would have been significantly less.
the international made internal issues more prevalent
Our problems go beyond the invasion. Most of our issues stem from a what amounts to a Cold Civil War. No shots fired just lots of aggressive posturing.
When you continue to put A$$ clowns like Emerick in charge of FA being wiped is what you get in return....
I must comment on this; who did we stab in the back? Croatia? Bosnia? Italy? France? Germany? China? Russia? Brazil? No. All of our TEDEN allies except for ones that have gone to TWO - Australia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, and Argentina - are our current allies, and allies of each other. But hey, cool fail point. I always love watching Australia be shit-titer.
thanks for proving my point, meanwhile shit-tier Australia has more regions than USA. must be hard being uberstrong USA amirite?
my point is your crap attitude, Australia was one of your staunchest allies not in damage but we were always there to help when you needed, you lost that now, and it would take a crapton of work to get it back, you chose the path of damage over dedication and look where it got the USA, 0 regions.
id much rather be shit-tier than USA tier atm
Our glorious president on his last day in office has spoken. Now pack your bags and get on a looooooong vacation, contemplate on your epic failure, grow up and then you can come back!
EPortugal with that shameless NAP with a wiped enemy eSPAIN
The list of "allies that had gone to TWO" look long. Hey, what do you suppose happened?
o7 DMV3
It's game mechanics, or rather the lack of them. We had a sandbox to play in, now we have...idk, this.
Think of it like this. Used to be this was the equivalent of an 'open world' game. Sure, your options are limited, but they're broad enough that everyone can find a niche, and you can really get into the details of your chosen area.
Now, it's like Mario Kart. Still fun in some respects, but you're going around the same track over and over again. Pretty soon, you're just going through the motions and the challenge and excitement are gone.
As if you are describing your sex-life.
Haha awesome! He is a moron. Because that doesn't explain all the people getting a different CS, but not leaving the game.
It is a$$ clowns like you that got America to where it is right now, you spend 2+ years claiming to be an American Patriot when actually you were a FN TWO tank; then when you figured out America was never going over to TWO you defect to the United Kingdom and get rewarded with a seat in Parliament...you are nothing more than a traitorous backstabbing TWO lapdog....
lel
'Now, it's like Mario Kart. Still fun in some respects, but you're going around the same track over and over again. Pretty soon, you're just going through the motions and the challenge and excitement are gone.'
Henry Pfeiffer Arundel
American Traitor
Two Tank
I see you saying this kind of BS everywhere. So since you think this game is no better than Mario Kart how about GTFO. You are nothing more than a Richard sucking traitor who sold America out simply so you could gain personal power. You continuously belittle this game and the citizens who play it. Might I suggest that you GTFO.
Our stagnation isn't due to some greater problem of an unwillingness to work together or people not have the right purpose in the game, it's a lot simpler; we don't have nearly as many new players taking an active role in the meta as we did when we were at our prime.
The meta game and the backstabbing, backroom deal making that was done on the eUS Forums is another key piece of why America is now wiped, it was on those forums that people like Emerick, Henry Pfeiffer Arundel, Israel Stevens and many others who attacked anyone with a different opinion until they simply left the game; you can blame American citizens (like IS continues to do) all you want - it was the power mongers who ran America from those forums that has gotten America wiped....
I've figured, "What I'm doing wrong." I won't assume, "I don't have other flaws."
voted
V+S I like the Article!
Real food for thought.
Thank you.
I was wrong to treat you that way and I hope it didn't cause you too much distress.
The amount of internal issues that this country has faced, especially the last 12 months, has been ridiculous. Every nation around the world has been involved in huge wars, building and destroying bridges, while we sit here nicely and play politics.
Here's hoping for a stronger eAmerica. Our downfall is just the beginning of our revival.
voted
These US-AIM orders were our Fireside Chats, something that I've always looked forward to while our borders kept shrinking. In the face of overwhelming odds there was hope that something better might arise out of the ashes forged anew with a purity of purpose.
The reconciliation of yours has only increased my respect.
"I will make an effort to remember that my words and actions affect others and to also remember that the people I interact with are indeed people and not just pixels on a computer screen."
I'll do this also McV. Sometimes it's easy to forget there are humans behind each of us.
o7
Good read DMV and great use of Thomas Cole's Destruction painting.
o7
Excellent rhetorical piece, truly one of the few shining articles in an age of stagnant media. It's stuff like this that reminds me why I believe it you, DMV.
o7
o7
V(aS)
Today I learned what o7 means. Yay for me. I got a gut feeling.
Us old school guys use 😛